The Best Family Things To Do 2017

It already seems as if January has been going on for about three years. While time is dragging, why not think about putting some fun family things to do on the calendar for this year. If one of your new year’s resolutions is to spend more time together as a family, this is the perfect list for you.

Things To Do In January

Have a clear out. Think about things you could give away to charity or family/friends to enjoy. Get boxes to clear away clutter. Doing this as a family makes everyone invested in keeping up with the tidying. Everyone will know where everything lives and will (hopefully) want to continue to have a clutter-free house

Make soup together.

Some heartwarming soul food – soup is a great winter warmer and is fun to make together. Accompany with a nice country walk, wrapped up in scarves and mittens!

Family movie night – popcorn, duvets, you could even make and ‘sell’ tickets beforehand!

Check out Hull – City of Culture 2017. There are so many events, exhibitions and workshops to choose from – check them out here.

Things To Do In April

Cheer on the marathon runners at the London Marathon 2017. This year the marathon will be run on the 23rd April – also St. George’s Day (find out more about St George here)

Celebrate the Boat Race – make paper boats and have your own boat race at your nearest stream/river.

Easter Weekend – make an easter bonnet, eat some ham or turkey, gorge yourself on chocolate. The usual stuff. Or try something different to the easter egg hunt and have a rainbow hunt – collecting things for each colour of the rainbow. The first to complete the set, wins.

Tall Ships Regatta – Around Woolwich and Greenwich. There are loads of events marking this transatlantic race from London to Canada – fireworks, ship tours, parades (13th – 16th April)

Things To Do In May

Make like the Railway Children and head to East Lancashire Railway for their 1940s festival. Tonnes to see and do and a great chance to dress up in vintage clothing, if the mood takes you! (27th-29th May)

Try going vegetarian for a week. As a nation we eat far too much red meat, so go healthy for a little while and try it out. If nothing else, it’s a great way of trying out new recipes.

Play capture the flag. Grab some family or friends to get a really good game going. You need 6 or more players, 2 different coloured lengths of fabric for the flags – cut into one for each player. Use flour if you have nothing else to hand to make the boundary between the 2 courts. The flags go to the back of the courts. The object is to get the other team’s flag – you dash across the courts to try and do this. But if you’re tagged by an opposing team member, you’re out and have to stand behind the other team’s flags. If you get a flag you can go back to your court, safe. Then repeat the process until one team has all the other team’s flags.

Start collecting dress up items for a dress up box and make plays on rainy days. Just like that episode of Peppa Pig where there’s a power cut and they make a TV out of a cardboard box and make up their own stories. Feel free to say the TV’s broken to instigate this!

Make a maypole – as large or mini as your house will take!

Things To Do In June

Check out the barmy (their words, not ours!) Suffolk Show in Ipswich – with pig olympics, trade stands, local foods, gardens, helicopters. Best of all, under 14s go free. (31st May – 1st June)

Try going to a restaurant with food that is totally new. If that sounds a bit beyond your family’s limits (fussy eaters don’t always make it easy to eat out – read our recipes and tips for picky eaters here) Pick a place on the globe and try out a typical recipe or a takeaway from that country/region. Our friends have recently begun travelling the world exploring different countries and cities. It is so interesting listening to all of their stories. So much so, we are looking to book our next family adventure, and we are looking at booking Singapore! Our friends have explained that there are so many things to do and see here, and it isn’t somewhere we have considered going before. We have heard there are some excellent restaurants in Singapore and there’s also a spectacular Comedy Show too, so it’s perfect for a family holiday! This is definitely our next stop on our world-wide adventure with the kids!

Learn a new hobby together – it’s great for kids to see adults undertake something new from scratch, it teaches them about failures and successes.

Start a vegetable garden. You don’t need a big garden – you don’t even need a garden (a window box or window sill will do just fine!)

Things To Do In July

Go camping – even if it’s just in the back garden, get a little wild and enjoy the outdoors.

Visit Famous Five’s stomping ground – Dorset’s Jurassic Coast (so you’ll please the dinosaur fans as well as the little literary minds in your family). The Isle of Purbeck and Corfe Castle were Enid Blyton’s inspiration for many an adventure. And you can make your own here! Check out the Visit-Dorset website for more info.

Things To Do In August

Volunteer – choose a charity that is dear to your hearts, it could be helping animals, the homeless, community initiatives or visit the elderly at a retirement home.

Organise a trip to a factory or somewhere that your kids would like to learn more about. It could be a balloon factory or seeing food made on an industrial scale. Just ring around and see if someone will let you do a tour as a family. They probably don’t often get asked and would be delighted to show you round!

Visit your nearest beach and make a sand sculpture.

Things To Do In September

Brave the Troll’s Trail – Trip trap your way to the Isle of Wight and enjoy a whole host of surprises on this fun walk. While you’re there, check out the beautiful beaches and Blackgang theme park.

Create your own ‘Tough Mudder’ style messy/muddy obstacle course in your back garden or in the woods.

Try a new craft or art. Get some cheap art and craft supplies from here.

Have a totally tech-free day. Put it all in a drawer and forget about it. No TV, no smartphones, laptops… Just enjoy nature or

Things To Do In October

Make Autumn Art – we’ve got some great ideas on leaf art craft projects. Buy some inexpensive frames and put your masterpieces on the wall.

Make Gloop ready for Halloween yuckiness (1 cup water, few drops of food colouring, slowly pour in two cups of cornstarch and mix using a spoon or, better still, your hands!)